DRIVERS in west Suffolk have been paying for some of the most expensive fuel in the UK due to an apparent price gaffe at a filling station.

Alan Twite said he could not believe it after being told that the Ultimate Unleaded 97 he put in his car at the Green Ace Filling Station, in Out Westgate, Bury St Edmunds, was selling at a whopping �1.79.9 per litre.

The fuel, which generally costs four or five pence more than normal unleaded, has a recommended retail price of �1.49.9.

Mr Twite, of Barton Grange, East Barton, said the price of the Ultimate petrol did not appear on forecourt signs.

He said: “I started filling up and thought the price on the pump must have been a mistake. I just did not believe it.

“And then when I went inside and was asked to pay, I said again, ‘This must be a mistake’. But I was told ‘No, this is what we are charging’.”

Mr Twite, a director of a telecoms company, paid �93.20 for 51.80litres of petrol – almost �20 more than he would usually spend.

He added: “I fill up about two or three times a week and drive about 50,000 or 60,000miles a year, but I have never seen anything like it.”

The price of the fuel from the Bury pumps is greater than the �1.74.9 charged for Super Plus Unleaded by a petrol station in Chelsea, London, which was previously said to be the most expensive in the country.

Mr Twite said: “I think they have made a mistake as they do not have the price on display.”

A spokesman for BP said although they supply fuel to the filling station, the prices are independently set.

When the East Anglian Daily Times contacted the garage, a staff member said that the price of Ultimate Unleaded was �1.79.9 but they later made contact again to say that the pricing had been due to a “mistake” and their fuel was actually �1.49.9.

The BP spokesman said that they had received a letter about the fuel price and that anyone who had been accidentally overcharged could claim a refund.